The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 388: Nanming Persuading Surrender
In May of the first year of Zhenbao (1626), Xia Zhiling and his entourage arrived in the capital. The Southern Ming envoys asked Li Xianzhong to accept the imperial decree. The two sides did not agree, and Li Xianzhong became furious and declared that he would castrate these incompetent officials.

However, the next day, May 6th, the emperor changed his attitude towards the envoy. Ma Jinxing invited the envoy to stay in the capital and serve the Emperor Zhenbao as an official in the Tang Kingdom.

Xia Zhiling realized that the peace talks between the North and the South had come to nothing, so he politely declined the invitation of the Grand Secretary.

Out of respect for the Southern Ming envoy who had fulfilled his mission, Emperor Zhenbao sent troops to escort the delegation out of the city and promised that the delegation would return to Nanjing safely.

Xia Zhiling was a Jinshi in the 42nd year of Wanli's reign, and served as the Censor of Nanzhili in the 47th year of Wanli's reign. After Liu Zhaosun dismissed the Censor and abolished the censors, he defected to Emperor Hongguang in anger.

Zhu Changling treated him as a national hero. Censor Xia was a recipient of the emperor's grace. Naturally, he did not want to return empty-handed when he was ordered to go north this time.

Xia Zhiling arranged for archers to sneak into the Yongding Gate city wall and shoot the handwritten letter of Emperor Hongguang into the city wall.

At the beginning of the letter, Emperor Hongguang emphasized that he was the true emperor and that the destiny of the Ming Dynasty was unquestionable.

Liu Zhaosun committed ten major crimes, including regicide and father-killing, warmongering, exploiting the people, and competing with the people for profit (referring to the expansion of the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce in the south of the Yangtze River)... Each of his crimes is too numerous to list and his crimes are extremely monstrous.

Now it has aroused the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people.

Since last autumn, various provinces have been hit by disasters: floods, droughts, locust plagues, one after another, like comets falling from the sky and fireflies guarding our hearts.

The earthquake in Shaanxi, the flood in Shanxi, and the plague in Beijing are all omens of great disaster.

In a nutshell, Liu Zhaosun was surrounded by enemies on all sides and was about to be defeated by Qi.

Therefore, officials from all regions should immediately surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

The Hongguang Emperor finally made a solemn promise: In this time of great chaos, if Liu Zhaosun could repent and voluntarily abdicate, offering Henan and Shandong (Beijing did not mention this), he could save his life.

Of course, the letter did not mention how Emperor Wuding was rescued from the siege of bandits and the plague.

Perhaps Zhu Changling doesn't know either.

~~~
After receiving the letter, the soldiers at Yongding Gate immediately handed it over to the commander Qi Jin. Qi Jin took a quick look at it and without hesitation, he personally handed the letter to Emperor Wuding.

The emperor's reaction after reading this letter is not described here.

On the night of May 5, Deputy Envoy Chen Hongfan discovered that his superior, Xia Zhiling, had secretly contacted the Kaiyuan Army without telling the Chuang Army. So he reported the matter to Ma Jinxing and others that night, and at the same time told the bandits that he was willing to lead his troops to surrender to Emperor Zhenbao.

Li Xianzhong was furious and immediately sent the cavalry from the old camp to chase the Tongbei envoys. Finally, he caught up with Xia Zhiling and others who were fleeing in panic in Fucheng.

Ma Jinxing invited Xia Zhengshi to join the Tang Dynasty, but Xia Zhiling refused again. Finally, he was ordered to be executed by Li Xianzhong.

At this point, the peace talks between the North and the South completely broke down, and Emperor Hongguang's fantasy of sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight was shattered.

~~~~~~
On May 5th, at the beginning of the evening hour, Guang'anmen City Wall.

Emperor Wuding's central military tent was moved here from Yongding Gate because the bandits, after failing to attack Yongding Gate, turned to attack Guang'an Gate.

Guang'anmen was the weakest in defense among the nine gates. Most of the fortifications outside the city had been destroyed by bandits, and the military force was also stretched thin. Zhu He and Chu Jinsheng held out for five days, and more than 800 defenders of the 11th Guards Army were all killed in the battle, and the two main officers also died for their country one after another.

Liu Zhaosun handed over the defense of Yongdingmen to Wang Erhu, and personally led the First, Second and Tenth Guards Armies to guard Guang'anmen. After several bloody battles, they finally stopped the bandits' offensive. However, the Kaiyuan Army lost more than half of its troops. In this kind of siege without external support, it was only a matter of time before the defenders' forces were exhausted.

Since the end of February, when the capital was besieged by bandits and the Battle for the Capital erupted, the two sides have been engaged in fierce fighting for over two months. Both the Qi and Tang armies have suffered heavy casualties, with countless horses, gunpowder, and chariots consumed on both sides. The sight of the nine gates of the capital was horrifying, and it is no exaggeration to describe the battlefield as a living hell.

After Liu Zongmin failed in his attack on Yongding Gate, he gathered his troops again and besieged Guang'an Gate. The bandits, despite their tens of thousands of troops, were unable to take the city. Relying on their absolute superiority in military strength, the bandits built six giant earth walls on the other side of the moat. Dozens of red cannons overlooked the top of Guang'an Gate and bombarded it day and night, causing heavy casualties to the Kaiyuan army on the top of the city.

After half a month of artillery preparation, Liu Zongmin was confident that he had destroyed all the artillery on the city wall and the city was about to fall, so he dispatched another 50,000 troops to launch the fifth wave of attack on Guang'anmen.

Liu Zongmin, furious, marched over 20,000 Qi civilians, captured from around the capital, onto the battlefield. The old camp, behind him, threatened the civilians with swords and bows and arrows, forcing them to approach the city walls. Using simple tools like bamboo ladders and hooks, the civilians scaled the walls.

Since the artillery on the city wall had been completely destroyed by the red cannons on the earth wall, the last twenty or so field guns were still resisting desperately, but they were no longer able to stop the cannon fodder from approaching.

After three volleys of fire from the Kaiyuan musketeers, all resistance seemed insignificant.

Tens of thousands of bandits climbed up the city walls using ladders and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the spearmen. The two sides fought from noon to dusk, and corpses piled up like mountains under the city. The Kaiyuan army was lucky enough to repel the bandits again.

However, the land beneath the emperor's feet became a living hell, and plague began to break out one after another.

In the following month, countless soldiers and civilians on both sides fell ill. Medical officer Wu Youke failed to cure the plague and committed suicide. By the end of April, the plague was out of control and nearly 10,000 Kaiyuan soldiers and bandits bled to death within three days.

In early May, the moat was filled with corpses, and the stagnant blood and flesh filled the river channel, so that the river could not flow! The earthen wall on the other side was no longer built, and the artillery was no longer fired because the city wall was swarming with bandits.

The corpses piled up in front of the Guang'anmen city wall were almost as high as the battlements. The bandits could step on the pile of corpses and easily jump over the heads of the defenders.

Liu Zongmin, who was in the same desperate situation as Liu Zhaosun, sent out the last thousand old soldiers.

The elite soldiers of the old camp stepped on the pile of corpses piled up by civilians and bandits, jumped onto the top of the city wall, and hacked to death the extremely exhausted Kaiyuan army. They were finally about to break through Guang'anmen and occupy the capital.

~~~~~
In the Guang'anmen City Wall, Emperor Wuding and Prime Minister Yang Hao were standing in the empty tent. Qiao Yiqi and others had disappeared.

Zhang Dong stood outside the tent with two guards. These were the only people left of the central army guard that Emperor Wu Ding once took pride in.

"Your Majesty, what are you saying over there?"

Yang Hao held up his tired and old body.

A group of trusted ministers either died or surrendered. Yuan Chonghuan, Sun Chuanting and Ma Shiying were blocked by mountains and seas and could not be rescued, so their situation was very dangerous.

Liu Zhaosun laughed dryly twice, weakly.

"Let the Seventh and Eighth Imperial Guard Armies stationed in Shandong and Henan surrender to them. In exchange, they will attack Li Xianzhong from Shandong and help the Kaiyuan Army break out."

"Hahaha, these Jiangnan scholars are always daydreaming. They knew Kang Yingqian was a disaster..."

Yang Hao coughed violently, took off his mask, and blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.

Emperor Wu Ding patted his father-in-law on the shoulder. Yang Hao instinctively moved away, waving his hand to signal his son-in-law not to come any closer. "Your Majesty, I'm dying. A dying man's words are often kind. I'm afraid Kang Yingqian can't be trusted."

Liu Zhaosun imagined the scene of Lao Kang kneeling down in front of Li Xianzhong and surrendering.

"Did Kang Yingqian kill his wife before surrendering to the enemy?"

Yang Hao corrected her, "She's not his wife, she's his concubine, a skinny horse I bought from Yangzhou."

Liu Zhaosun chuckled, not expecting Lao Kang to be so courageous. He thought of Song Jiang from the Water Margin, who was also obsessed with power.

Song Sanlang also killed Yan Poxi.

"It was Kang Yingqian's idea that the bandits turned to attack Guang'anmen."

Yang Hao was furious. He had been dissatisfied with Kang Yinggan since the Sarhu incident, and now he hated him to the core.

"Zhang Dong found over 100,000 kilograms of explosives in the Wanggongchang secret passages, and there are still some secret passages that have not been searched. This old thief, is he trying to blow up the entire city of Beijing? The bandits killed him, he deserved it!"

Liu Zhaosun ignored Yang Hao. His thoughts were racing. Tomorrow, May 1626, , would be the date of the Apocalypse Explosion in history.

"General Kang wanted to perish along with the bandits, but Li Xianzhong didn't fall for his trick. In the end, Kang Yingqian was killed by Li Xianzhong. What a pity."

Liu Zhaosun sighed deeply, remembering his old friend.

"Tomorrow is the Tianqi explosion. The gunpowder in Wanggongchang has been used up, so it shouldn't be able to explode."

Yang Hao didn't hear what his son-in-law was saying, so he whispered, "Your Majesty, has the prince left?"

At the last moment, Liu Zhaosun did not follow Zhu Youjian's mistake and left his son to die.

"Let's go. Pei Dahu escorted the prince and his men out of the city the day before yesterday. They should be in Tianjin by now."

Yang Hao wanted to persuade his son-in-law not to follow Xiang Yu's example and to escape in the chaos, but he suddenly heard noisy voices coming from the city wall behind him. Yang Hao had experienced many battles and knew that this was what it looked like when a city was finally broken.

~~~~~~~
As dusk fell, Wang Erhu was seriously injured. His left leg was hit by an arrow, and his chest was pierced by a stone flying from the Red Cannon. His armor was soaked in blood. The guards and soldiers around him fell one by one. In the end, only he was left standing on the top of the city wall, carrying the majestic Black Tiger flag of the Third Guards Army.

At this time, Zhang Dong stepped on the dense corpses on the steps of the city wall and climbed up the wall of Yongding City.

"The Thirteenth Master ordered you to retreat back to the city, continue organizing street fighting, and fight the bandits to the bitter end."

Since the Great Qi was doomed to perish, Liu Zhaosun decided to take Li Xianzhong with him before he died. There were still 10,000 soldiers in Beijing. With the combat power of the Kaiyuan army, it was more than enough to cripple Li Xianzhong and kill him together with the bandits.

"I can't leave."

Wang Erhu refused. At the last moment, this general with the longest seniority in the Kaiyuan system chose to defend to the death and die with his soldiers.

"Zhang Mazi, tell the Thirteenth Master that the Third Guards Army has suffered heavy casualties, both veterans and recruits are dead. Guang'an Gate will fall in half an hour. I am seriously injured, and retreating will only prolong my life. Let me die here."

After he finished speaking, he looked back towards the Forbidden City. Bonfires had been lit around the imperial city. Auxiliary soldiers and able-bodied men were moving horses like ants, digging trenches, and building the last line of defense of the Great Qi Dynasty, ready to fight the bandits to the death.

"Master Thirteen, I am destined to never leave this Shura field."

Zhang Mazi didn't say much. He saw that all the personal guards around Wang Erhu were dead. He stepped forward to bandage his wounds. Wang Erhu shook his hand slightly and said:

"No need. Now that all the spearmen in front are dead, it's my turn. Zhang Mazi, you can go now."

Zhang Dong looked in the direction Wang Erhu was looking. Behind the battlements of the Guang'anmen city wall, there were less than a hundred spearmen still charging hard on the top of the city wall. The bodies of the soldiers who died in the battle were lying in front, behind, and on both sides of them. The stacked corpses made the battlements into a Great Wall of flesh and blood.

Zhang Dong recalled the scene of following Emperor Wuding in the night attack on the Bordered Blue Banner at Sarhu. Seven years ago, in such a bitterly cold spring, he and several servants set fire on the Dong'e Road Mountain to attract the attention of the Jiannu scouts.

It's like a reincarnation.

"Why doesn't Master Thirteen leave?"

"He said he wanted to come with us."

After Zhang Dong finished speaking, he began to help Wang Erhu move barrels of gunpowder into the corridor of Guang'anmen City Wall, and the gunpowder was piled into a small hill.

The two men leaned against the hill, panting and looking towards the top of the city.

The massacre by bandits on the city wall continued, and the Kaiyuan soldiers tried their best to hold back the bandits and buy time for their comrades to retreat.

~~~~~~~
"When the prince was one month old, I went to drink with him. I saw his little fists clenched so tightly that I couldn't pry them open. He will definitely become a great general in the future!"

"What great general? He's the crown prince! He'll be the emperor in the future!"

The two old brothers leaned against each other and talked and laughed.

At the last moment, Wang Erhu snatched the fuse from Zhang Dong.

"Zhang Mazi, take good care of Master Thirteen! I'm leaving now. Let's be brothers in our next life!"

~~~~
"Kill all the damn government troops!"

The sound of weapons clashing was heard from the top of Guang'anmen City. The battle was short and fierce, and soon returned to calm.

With a bang, the last spearman was thrown down from the Guang'anmen city wall. His body hit Wang Erhu like a sandbag, splashing a cloud of dust.

The soldier was vomiting blood. He was shot in the waist and back, and his hands and feet were broken. In his dying moments, he stared with wide eyes at his commander who was lying on the pile of gunpowder.

"Brother, go with peace of mind. I'll take you to war in the next life!"

Wang Erhu struggled to close the dead man's eyes and extended the lit tinder towards the gunpowder fuse.

(End of this chapter)